UKC

Gaz Parry has repeated the stunning Pembroke testpiece of The Big Issue E9 6c at Bosherston Head.

Gaz elected to climb the route in a 'sporty' style by pre-placing a selection of wires on abseil to have insitu protection for his ascent. The route was originally climbed by John Dunne in 1996.

Read more at http://www.ukclimbing.com/news/item.php?id=52915

In reply to UKC News: Looks awesome. Effort.

In reply to UKC News: absolutely awesome effort mr parry. top work. why aren't there more comments? does no one else remember the big deal the big issue was?

In reply to UKC News: by the way... Ste Mac said "beware of the peg, it is old and short", just like him I suppose..... lol

In reply to thommi:

didnt realise mr oxely was such a naughty boy! i knew he had put up a few routes in swanag eoutside the bolt agreement, but never knew he did it in wales too.

why does the news item bother saying E9 6c? when the guy has himself said he did it sport style and graded it hard 8a+, nothing onsight about that method.

this man is awesome tho, he put a good showing in at the works boulder comp too

In reply to mark_wellin:


Presumably because that is the grade currently attributed to the route. The fact that Gaz P did it in a different style is somewhat irrelevant to that, no? The route itself is still E9 6c.

In reply to UKC News: What exactly does the tank symbol stand for on the rockfax guidebok page?

In reply to jamface:

It's on the firing range. So may be closed mid week.

In reply to jamface:

It means it is in the Military Range and as such, may be closed at certain times.

alan

In reply to Fraser:

well the route as first climbed and graded is an E9, he didnt do it in the same way, you wouldnt give yourself a font 8A tick for (say) careless torque if you toproped it would you?!

In reply to mark_wellin: It was Mr Oxley who started bolting the swanage promenade, Pembroke and Gogarth have sorted out the bolting issues, no bolts please, its a shame that swanage is seen as a bit of a backwater and hasn't had the local support to return it to its natural bolt free state.

In reply to Mark Lloyd:

thats because alot of us down here, love and prefer sport climbing. i think a good middle ground has been met here.

In reply to plexiglass_nick:

i know that mate, if you read my post i ask why the news article mentioned it, when the climber himself said he did it 'sport style... hard 8a+'. really i was just trying to debate whether a grade can be used to describe a route if it hasnt been climbed in the same style as that which originally warrented the grade... see post above

In reply to mark_wellin:

sorry I have just re-read your post and realised I was repeating what you already said, hence the delete.

I'm not sure resurrecting the debate about the E grade system to describe headpoints is relevant to the news as reported...

I think a news article saying someone has headpointed an e9 6c with preplaced gear (and it felt more like F8a+ in that style), or if a mate says to me in the pub they have done a highball font 8a on top rope, is being perfectly straightforward about style of ascent.

What you are saying is that you think that the E grade should only ever be used to describe onsights, which has been done to death and IMHO isn't relevant to this news article. Maybe start a new thread if you want to rehash that debate?

In reply to Mark Lloyd:

I think the bolting at the Promenade generally had local support, most of the quality lines would be poorly protected E6's or harder without the bolts, as it is they remain some of the most brutal pieces of climbing at Swanage. All of the main Swanage crags (Boulder Ruckle, Guillemot etc) remain bolt free so it never really seems to be an issue.

In reply to plexiglass_nick:

i definately dont want to get into it that much, this is coming from a sport climbers perspective not really 'getting' the whole trad ethics thing... totally agree that you did what you did, as long as you dont lie its cool. i originally thought this when seeing in climbing films people doing hard grit routes with the gear pre placed, thinking 'well thats just a sport route'. another example is rhapsody, some of the repeats (all?) were done on pre placed gear, and after seeing that the gear holds the fall, it might as well be a bolt.

In reply to mark_wellin:

Except they would have put the bolt a bit nearer the crux maybe?

Chris

In reply to Chris Craggs:

you would think, but some people manage to stil put bolts in the wrong place

In reply to mark_wellin:

What, like Castell Helen?